I love voting.
It's honestly one of my top five favorite things to do,
and the best part is I can do it from my own home.
Unfortunately, it hasn't always been this easy.
I promise I'll tell you all about it.
- But first... - What is voting anyway?
Voting is a part of a system called democracy
where people voice their opinions and it shapes the outcome of the decision.
It's basically a fancy official way to express yourself
and tell people what you want.
And when a group of people vote between two or more different options,
the option with the most votes wins.
Sometimes you get who you voted for, sometimes you don't.
Now you can vote for something as simple as choosing between having Krabby Patties
or spaghetti tacos for dinner,
or for something a little bigger,
like who could be class president or who should receive
the Kid's Choice Award for favorite female singer, actress, television host.
[laughing]
Pretty cool, right?
Well, nothing is cooler or more powerful than voting in a US election
because that's when we get to decide who our leaders will be.
And no, I'm not talking about your parents.
Oh, and something else.
During elections we also get to vote on some of the actual rules themselves!
Seriously!
They have fancy names like "propositions" or "ballot measures".
There are different types of US elections, but the biggest one
and the one we're here to talk about today happens every four years.
That's the General Presidential Election,
where Americans get to choose the next President and Vice President.
Well, sort of.
Us, plus a special group of people called the Electoral College
get to pick the president.
But that's a whole different topic that we'll get into later.
So now that we know what voting is, who's actually allowed to do it?
All US citizens, 18 years or older who are registered to vote.
But that wasn't always the case.
For a really long time, many groups were excluded
from voting right here in the United States.
Back in 1789, when the US was still in its early days,
the founding fathers wrote a fancy super important document
called the Constitution.
The Constitution lists every American's rights.
Now, today, the Constitution gives Americans
the right to vote free from discrimination.
But in 1789, that decision was left to the States,
and back then, the States decided only white men, 21 years or older,
who owned property could vote.
Eventually, all white men who were old enough could vote.
But it wasn't until nearly 100 years later, in 1870,
after the end of slavery,
that all men born in the US, despite the color of their skin,
could participate in elections.
So basically everyone except women and native Americans could vote.
That left out more than half of the population.
It meant that your mom, your grandma, auntie
and even I wouldn't have been able to vote!
Well, those conditions didn't last very long, either.
See, the very little progress that was made quickly disappeared.
Around the 1880s, black men in the south were once again denied
the right to participate in elections.
Thanks to a set of racist, unfair rules called Jim Crow laws.
Jim Crow laws planned to create separate but equal rules
that were definitely not equal for black and white Americans.
What they really did was deny black people rights and freedoms
simply because they were black.
And when it came to voting, that's exactly what happened.
Black Americans who wanted to vote had to first overcome unfair obstacles,
like paying poll taxes, passing reading and writing tests,
and even guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar.
And because of centuries of slavery and racial discrimination,
all of this led to tons of voting barriers for black Americans.
See, black people in the US, especially those in the south,
weren't fully freed from slavery until 1865.
And when they finally were freed, they were basically left with nothing.
They had no property, barely made any money,
and most had never been taught to read or write.
This meant Jim Crow laws made it nearly impossible
for millions of black people, millions of Americans, to vote.
But some progress was made in other areas.
In 1920, white women were finally allowed to vote.
Decades later, native Americans,
you know, the people who were literally here first,
began to receive the right to vote, state by state.
Fast-forward to 1965,
past decades of oppression, unjust laws,
and the blood, sweat and tears of many black Americans,
including civil rights activists Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rosa Parks and John Lewis.
President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965
and gave not just black Americans,
but all non-white, English-speaking US citizens the right to vote.
Think about that, 1965.
That really wasn't that long ago.
Most of our grandparents were born before then.
Most forms of voter suppression have become illegal,
but there are still some laws that continue to make voting difficult
for Americans who are black, brown and lower income.
Like in 2013, when portions of the Voting Rights Act were struck down
and made it harder for some people to participate in elections.
They did things like cut down on the number of places
people could go to vote
or require voters to show ID cards at the polls.
These changes have since been sent back to Congress to re-pass,
but nothing's happened yet.
Now you might be thinking,
"But I'm not even old enough to vote yet. How does any of this affect me?"
Well, do you go to school? Parks? The public library?
All of those places are controlled by the government,
by the people who adults vote for in elections,
which means that even though you can't vote yet,
things being voted on still have a direct impact on your life.
So don't wait until you're 18 to get involved.
Get out there now, inform yourself, express your opinions
and let your voice be heard.
Bless up, this is DJ Khaled,
and I want to send my love to the young world out there.
Vote. DJ Khaled and the Khaled Family want the whole world to vote.
Young world, let's go!
You guys have to vote!
If you're watching this, go vote.
If you are not old enough to vote just yet, make sure your parents go vote.
And when they say, "Of course we are, we love choosing our future!"
Then you say, "Okay, how do I do that?"
When it's my time to vote.
Every vote counts so get out there and make your voice heard.